Tjiliwirri: A Language of Opposites

The Warlpiri people, a group of Indigenous Australian, teach a strange language called Tjiliwirri to their boys who go through an initiation rite. Tjiliwirri literally means “funny’ or “clown”. The peculiar thing about this language is that it expresses every idea as its opposite. For instance, if you want to say “It’s hot”, you have to say “It’s cold”. It can quickly get complicated. Saying “I bought an apple” would mean “You sold an apple”.

SpongeBob would have been thrilled to know that the boys of Warlpiri celebrate “Opposite Day” every day:

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My name Edmark M. Law. I work as a freelance writer, mainly writing about science and mathematics. I am an ardent hobbyist. I like to read, solve puzzles, play chess, make origami and play basketball. In addition, I dabble in magic, particularly card magic and other sleight-of-hand type magic. I live in Hong Kong.
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Is this a variation of Cockney backslang where the front of the word is moved to the back in an effort to confuse any outsider eavesdropping. Before that they had rhyming slang which has now seeped into the mainstream, so isnt as effective in keeping the outsider out.

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Learn Fun Facts is an archive of curious facts for the curious. I write on a variety of subjects, including mathematics, science, technology, language, history, literature, art and anything in between.